Munna Bhai 3 Moves Forward: Farhad Samji to Write Rajkumar Hirani’s Sequel, 2027 Shoot Planned

The long-awaited Munna Bhai 3 has taken its most concrete step forward in years. According to a report by Variety India, director Rajkumar Hirani has brought writer-director Farhad Samji on board to develop the screenplay of the third instalment of the beloved comedy franchise, with the writing expected to be completed soon and the film scheduled to go on floors in 2027. The project would bring Sanjay Dutt back as Munna and Arshad Warsi back as Circuit, more than two decades after they last shared the screen in the franchise.

The development is also a reunion behind the camera. Samji’s journey with the franchise began on Munna Bhai M.B.B.S. (2003), when composer Anu Malik called him late at night to pen the opening verse of “M Bole Toh” overnight — the tapori refrain that helped define the character. His return as the film’s writer, alongside Hirani and producer Vidhu Vinod Chopra, reunites the trio after 23 years, and Hirani is reported to have sought Samji out specifically because the franchise needed a fresh voice.

Hirani has been the franchise’s gatekeeper for two decades. As recently as February 2026 he told Variety India that he had an idea for Munna Bhai “done to a larger level” but had not found the right ending for it, and that he would not make a sequel unless he was satisfied with the script. The first film released in 2003 and Lage Raho Munna Bhai followed in 2006; no official shooting date or theatrical release window has been announced yet, and the makers have said the final screenplay must still meet Hirani’s expectations before cameras roll.

Here is the Filmverse take: the news here is not that Munna Bhai 3 exists — it has existed as a rumour for twenty years — but that Hirani has finally handed the pen to someone else. That is both the promise and the risk. Samji is a proven commercial comedy hand, which is exactly what a franchise returning after two decades needs, but the Munna Bhai films worked because Hirani’s humanism softened the comedy, not because the jokes were loud. If Samji’s script clears Hirani’s famously high bar, 2027 could genuinely deliver the reunion fans have waited for; if it does not, this becomes one more chapter in the franchise’s long history of almosts.

Sources: Variety India, Indulge Express, Movie Talkies.